CHAPTER 9 SPREADING THE WORD Chapter Overview: The following pages describe several ways in which to keep the company partners, at all levels, informed as to the activities taking place within the Continuous Improvement Process. SPREADING THE WORD The most important link in the chain of continuous, never ending improvement is communication. Like anything, if something goes wrong or takes a turn for the worst, it takes no time at all for the word to spread. This type of communication can immobilize the Continuous Improvement Process. That is why the successes must be communicated. Some of the successes may only be small ones, but you should make every effort to communicate them. It does two things. It relays to the individuals in the facility that regardless of the failures (or learning opportunities), that Continuous Improvement is here for the duration. For those outside the facility (customers, top management, etc.), it shows that we are committed to Continuous Improvement and are making strides to become the leader in our industry. From the customer's standpoint, it is much better to deal with a supplier that is trying to improve it's product or service. The product or service may not be perfect, but at least the supplier is attempting to improve it. WITHIN THE FACILITY In each plant, it is necessary for every company partner to know what is happening with respect to Continuous Improvement. Below are listed several groups of company partners that have varying levels of Continuous Improvement involvement. Each group needs to be communicated to in different ways. Project Team Members Project team members are the most involved group of partners in the Continuous Improvement Process. They are very familiar with the process they are currently working on. By way of minutes, they are reminded about their accomplishments to date. But once the project team has concluded its problem solving journey and made their recommendations to the Steering Committee, there needs to be something in place to keep them apprised of the implementation cycle of the recommendations. This is done through the Closed Project Evaluation. It is very important that all phases of implementation be communicated. It is better to tell team members why certain accepted recommendations are not being implemented rather than letting them assume that management is doing anything. If, for instance, management is waiting on approval of capital budgets Employees in Areas Affected by Project Teams When a team of employees is assembled to begin working on an opportunity, it is almost impossible to include everyone involved in that process. Those that are not included may still have good ideas about correcting or reducing the problem. It is imperative that those individuals who are not on the team are communicated to regarding the team's progress. One way for progress to be communicated is through the team members. Team members should not wait until they are asked about it; they should volunteer the information. Members should also solicit the ideas (and criticisms) of the other individuals in the affected area. A second way of communication is the non-verbal type. Many things can be communicated through Pareto charts or histograms posted throughout the area. It could be something as simple as a flow chart describing the flow of paperwork in the Customer Service Department. Imagine posting a flow chart describing the process only to find out that not everyone is doing it that way; but by communicating it to the rest of the department, problems in the process begin to disappear; and the team hasn't really done anything yet. One group of employees that must be brought into the communication loop is the supervisor. Team members who work for the supervisor in the affected area must maintain open channels of communication at all times. No one likes things to change, especially when they have not been told why. By communicating with the supervisor, the project team may have a "champion" to help them ensure the recommendations they develop are maintained once they are implemented. Steering Committee Members Not including the project teams and Facilitator, the Steering Committee should be the most informed group in the facility with regard to Continuous Improvement. There are seven primary ways in which the Steering Committee members receive communication: Closed Project Evaluation, team minutes, team Mentor, Facilitator, presentations, key indicators, and MBWA (Management By Walking Around). The first six forms of communication are covered elsewhere in this Manual. The seventh form, MBWA, has not been addressed. The term MBWA has been around for some time. It simply means the managing group spends some time on the production floor to observe "reality". In other words, they get to see what is really going on in the day to day process. It allows them to communicate with the people in the process as well as allowing the individuals in the process to communicate things to the managers that they may not hear otherwise. If this method of communication is not established already, it will take some time for the people in the process to realize the purpose of it and open up to the management group. Once the employees realize the purpose, this form of communication to serves two functions. It allows for the Steering Committee members to find out, first hand, if the approved recommendations are implemented and maintained. If the recommendations are not implemented or maintained, they now have the opportunity to determine what element in the process faltered. It can then be corrected without having to wait for the Steering Committee meeting to discuss it. Notice that when the recommendation was not implemented or maintained, it was because some fault in the process, not necessarily an individual. This should be kept in mind. 85 percent of the time, the problem will be in the system. It may be that the individual responsible for implementation misunderstood the importance of acting on it immediately. He/She may have assumed that it was more important to keep production going. Maybe the individual did not see the "big picture". They did not know that, by shutting down the machine for 6 hours to implement the recommendations, they would increase production by 15 percent. It is important for the Steering Committee members to share the "big picture" with the folks in the process. MBWA also allows the team members to strut their stuff. They now have an opportunity to share what they are doing with the management group; to tell them what they are doing on the team, where their team is heading. Management may find out that things are not going as well as they had anticipated, meaning corrective action may need to occur. But they may see the glowing, "fuzzy," side of Continuous Improvement. Everyone enjoys being patted on the back for a job well done; and MBWA can be a catalyst for just that. All Employees Communication to all employees is the most difficult type. Getting the information out to them is not difficult, but ensuring that they grasp it is. The Continuous Improvement Bulletin Board (CIBB) is probably the easiest mass communication tool available. The CIBB should contain several elements. It should contain, but not be limited to: -- Current Closed Project Evaluations -- Minutes from all the active project teams -- Graphs -- Key indicators -- A list of current team members (including the Steering Committee members) -- Recommendation Responses -- Current Task Teams -- Problem and Objective Statements A second form of communication is through new-hire orientation. Every new employee should be informed about the Continuous Improvement Effort. There are several items you must consider before embarking upon this journey. -- When do you want to give the orientation (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly)? -- Who do you want to give it to (New hires, employees out of probation)? -- What do you want to tell them (Proof of the Need, history of CIP at your location, successes in their area)? -- How do you want to tell them (lecture style, simulations, group activities)? These questions should be addressed by the Branch Steering Committee. It does not matter how it is done, just that it is done. Another means of communication to the "masses" is through large facility functions such as picnics, award ceremonies, Christmas dinners, etc. This is a perfect opportunity for the management group to relay the goals and accomplishments within the Continuous Improvement realm. OUTSIDE THE FACILITY Continuous Improvement is something that must be shared outside of the facility as well as inside. In some cases the branches have no choice to share the info. In other instances, it may prove advantageous to share it. Listed below are some of the main groups that receive or could receive communication about the progress being made at the facility. Group Steering Committee / Continuous Improvement Manager The Group Steering Committee, as mentioned in previous chapters, receives updates from the Continuous Improvement Manager. It is necessary for the branches to keep the Continuous Improvement Manager aware of the Continuous Improvement process at their location. If there are any specific needs, the Continuous Improvement Manager will make those requests; and those requests may change from time to time. Other Facilities Since most of our branches are similar, it would be beneficial to share what we have learned about a process with our sister plants. This is achieved partly through the Continuous Improvement Activities (CIA) Log. The CIA Log contains the status, category, reference name or number, description, Facilitator, and Branch Manager of every project team, new or old, in the group. The CIA Log serves as a guide to the branches in seeking information on project teams at other locations. If they find useful information on the Log, they can then call the Facilitator at that location for more details. If you feel that what you are doing at your plant may be beneficial to another, don't wait for the CIA Log; contact the Facilitator and share it. Customers Communicating with the customer is indeed vital. Most organizations rely on their sales staff to play the role of the liaison. Recently, however, the role of communicating ideas and employee frustrations is beginning to move down the ladder. Employees are being taken to customer's facilities to share their frustrations and successes as well as learn from their counterparts in the customer's plants. Customers are bringing their employees into their suppliers plants to show them how the process works to produce the parts they are receiving. This gives the customer's workforce, as well as ours, an idea of the big picture. In some of our facilities, at each work location, is a picture of how the product they produce is used by the customer. This tends to make the employees realize the importance of producing a good quality product. Customers have also brought opportunities for improvement to our attention. There are cases where a task team or project team is assigned to identify and in some cases correct. The customer plays a role in receiving the results to ensure they are to his satisfaction. Suppliers We normally think of our company as the supplier to the customers, but we have our own suppliers as well. Some of the suppliers are internal (other parts of the company); others external The internal suppliers are beginning to supply information to us in a form that can be easily understood. They are also continually working on improving their processes. This is to be expected. Our external suppliers are small in volume, but still need to be aware of the Continuous Improvement tools and philosophies. In this way we can communicate easier in order to improve the process of each party involved.